Introduction:
India is a country of
cultural and traditional diversities. Such society has established and institutionalized
the ways of living to justify power and authority which some enjoyed over the
rest. The existence in such diverse society demands understanding among the
people to rejoice the diversities around them, particularly the variances in
religion. The conflicts arising out of these diversities have found unique
resonance and which have assumed special significance in post-independence
Indian theatre. Such path breaking play from contemporary Indian theatre is “Final
Solutions” (1992) by Mahesh Dattani which is a critically acclaimed and thought
provoking play which brings out important and representative features of the
fragmented modern Indian life and poses varied questions of communal
disharmony. The ways in which the modern Indian plays are studied have
undergone a considerable change. The paper here aims not only to critique but
also to explore the deeper insights of the thematic concerns of the play and to
put a range of evaluation and interpretation on the basis of empirical evidences.
It analyses the textual narrative of the play which has a considerable
significance and important role in highlighting the issue of communalism. It
attempts to discover the inappropriate and inhuman behavioural patterns in the
society based on conventional stereotyping and established prejudices. Also,
communalism has always been one of the major concerns for India. The nation has
been struggling to resolve this social issue since pre-colonial era.
Discussion:
Final Solutions is
situated with a long history as it deals with religious communalism, which is
also one of the very important national
concerns which have problematized the peace of nation for over a century. While
India is well known for its rich history of theatre unfortunately the country
is also known for its history of religious rigidity. The religious conflicts
and its consequence such as hatred, animosity and anger are often referred to
be as religious communalism. The religious communalism results due to the
ideological differences between the members of different religions and in fact
it emerges out of the political manipulation of social issues. The emphasis put
on community would eventually lead to the political innstitutions that dominate
such as vote-bank politics and India is a very clear example of such politics.
The real problem underlies with the stereotyping, punishing and blaming the
whole community for the deliberate mistakes and anti-social activities by some
of them. Ever since the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, a communal
tension between the Hindu and Muslim communities in India has been pervasive.
Despite India’s secular
government and religious pluralism and tolerance there have been a number of
violent communal conflicts between Hindus and Muslims, which are often products
of politically motivated events. In fact, India has a long history of communal
violence and “Final Solutions” is a kind of plea for the end of the communal
violence, with one of the worst examples that is Ayodhya dispute. Communalism
like casteism involves stereotyping and prejudice which results into animosity,
anger and hatred because of their cultural and religious variance. The past
incidents and events like the partition in 1947, Babri Masjid demolition in
1992 and Godhra incident in 2002 have created a huge gap between the Hindus and
Muslims. The same can be understood if we carefully speculate the action
throughout the play “Final Solutions.” Dattani puts masks on the Mob/Chorus to
make frequent change of identity to look natural. When the characters articulate
inner feelings the chorus whisper or shout along. The plays opens when there
has been curfew in the city because of the disturbance in the Rath Yatra
resulting in communal violence. The play starts itself with a curfew in the
city because of the communal conflicts. The central character Hardika had
sorrowful past which had made herself averse to the religious sect of Muslims.
Zarine’s father came to her father-in-law in search of job but his entreaty was
not accepted. This created a tension between those two families and it
continued through Hardika. And same experiences might have been of number of
families which multiplied the tension between each other resulting into split
and hatred between the two sects.
Hardika cannot forgive
the people of that community who brutally killed her father even if the
murderers did not have any relations with the boys who had come to their house
to protect themselves. In most of the cases the matter of dispute is very
simple but due to involvement of some anti-social elements it takes shape of
communal riots which creates a huge difference in the psyche of victims. There
are spiritual losses. People not only lose their people and material but also
their souls. The experiences change their perspectives and same was true for
the two young Muslim men. Through their experiences their perspectives about
the Indian society and for themselves change as Bobby reveals to Ramnik the
reason of Javed’s turning point from a common Muslim guy to a riot rouser or a
hoodlum. Javed and Bobby felt equally angry about the man’s behaviour which
created a deep and vast difference.
Aruna is a character
which responds in most staunch and devout ways. She even risks her own family
members. She also forcibly tries to make her daughter to believe the same in
what she does. The characters Bobby, Ramnik and Smita despite the outer layers of
secularism remain acutely aware of the roots of religious identity they all are
trying hard to supress through their own identities. Javed then confesses about
the riots which broke-out because of the disturbance in the Rath Yatra was
initiated by him, as he threw stone on the idol of deity in the procession. And
in Act III the conversation between Ramnik and Javed speaks his heart out and
inflicts the attack on community which appears antagonistic to him. From here too one can find the animosity and
hatred of Javed towards the Hindus is not for some particular individual or a
group but for the community as whole.
Finally when Bobby and
Javed are about to leave, Bobby breaks all norms by lifting the tiny image of
Lord Krishna from Aruna’s prayer room and declaring in front of all : “Bobby:
See! See! I am touching God! Your God! My flesh is holding Him! Look, Javed!” Aruna
screams against the sacrilege. Through Bobby, Dattani voices out the solution
to get rid of such problems in the society. The words of Bobby are enough to
explain that it is the society and ones living in it have created such havoc
because of some events in their lives. If people genuinely trust each other and
accepts the diversity amongst them it will be simpler to live than the present
situations. Through Bobby Dattani conveys that if the two communities
understand and believe in each other, then nothing can be destroyed. But
probably the only suggestion is that it needs practice and immediate
implementation of brotherhood forgetting the past and the stereotyped notions
of each other. When the young men leave Ramnik confesses to her mother Hardika
that his father, Hari and his father had burnt the shop of Zarine’s father’s
shop in the name of religious supremacy. It suggests that the causes of the
communal riots are not only due to disbelief, anger, hatred and influence of
politicians but it is also related to economy.
Conclusion:
From an in-depth study
and analysis of the dramatic text “Final Solutions” one comprehends three
things. Firstly, theatre always directly or indirectly presents the utter truth
of life through language which is destined to survive, move and rule man’s mind
and heart forever. Whether it is social or political issues, creative
playwrights have always tried to portray contemporary social conflicts and
reality through their plays. Secondly, although it portrays reality, theatre
has brought hope, courage, awareness and understanding to man about what he is
and what he should do to stand against anything with a vision towards a better
future to come and determination to fight against all the social evils and
odds. And finally, theatre is a key educational device which informs and
demonstrates the perception of class, religion, caste and ethnicity prevailing
in the society by conceptualizing the identities. In “Final Solutions” Dattani
expresses his humanistic concerns. He deals with the theme of communalism. In
this play Dattani applies the religion consciousness and the prejudices towards
different religions. He presents communalist attitudes and stereotypes
prevalent in the society which influence to have a sensibility of hatred of one
community against another. Through the method of reflection of contemporary
socio-political issue in the play Dattani tries to explain that if discursive boundaries
are ignored in the effort to understand the complexity of communalism,
solutions might not be really so far away.
